When the nanny arrived, Glorfindel slipped out of bed and quickly dressed while Celebrian chatted with the young lady. He popped into the nursery to briefly say farewell and to talk some adorable nonsense to Elrohir, much to the delight of both of the ladies.
“You would make such a wonderful father,” remarked Celebrian, and it was not the first time.
“But I would be such a terrible husband,” Glorfindel freely admitted. “It is a good thing I have so many friends with children I can spoil.” He relinquished the elfling back to his mother, stole a kiss from Celebrian, and gave the nanny a peck on the cheek for good measure.
Elrond was still asleep, burrowed under the blankets. Glorfindel managed to locate a tuft of dark hair and bent down to kiss the peredhel lightly. Some muffled noise that probably meant ‘good morning, I love you, now go away’ escaped from beneath a pillow. Glorfindel chuckled and left the room.
He stretched when he reached the hallway, arms a little stiff from keeping still so that he did not awake Elrond in the early hours of the morning. The mingled aroma of brewed coffee, venison sausages, eggs, hash, and various blends of teas led him down the hall to the stairs. He greeted many an ellyn and ellyth, including one who caught his eye from across the hall. Glorfindel paused at the landing and smiled as he fell in step with Lindir. “Did you sleep well?”
“Marvelously.” Lindir glanced to be sure no one seemed to be listening and added, “I am free again tonight.”
“What a coincidence.” Glorfindel noted a group milling around the announcement board outside of the dining hall. “Are you going to breakfast?”
“I have already been.”
“Then I will see you tonight.” Glorfindel, never one to be discrete when he did not have to, took firm hold of Lindir’s shoulder and pulled him up against him. They kissed passionately, in the midst of the hallway, stopping traffice briefly and causing one of the younger soldiers to whistle at them. The pair ignored everyone else, and when they parted, Glorfindel said, “Come to my room this time.” He smiled to himself as Lindir nodded and hurried down the hall.
After a few moments of watching the minstrel retreat, Glorfindel turned his attention to the posted notices. There were a lot of the usual items: Someone needed someone to fix a wagon but the carpenter was backlogged, someone else had a cat who returned one night with nine kittens that needed good homes, and another person was missing some trinket they thought they had left in the dining hall one night. The one that seemed to be of the most interest to those crowding the board, however, was one that had been newly added.
SEEKING TRAVELING PARTY
DESTINATION: GREENWOOD
LEAVING FIRST DAY OF SPRING
TO RETURN IN AUTUMN
TRANSPORT DIGNITARY TO CONFERENCE
EXCELLENT COMPENSATION
MUST HAVE AMPLE WEAPON TRAINING
AND EXPERIENCE
INTERESTED PARTIES TO CONTACT LORD ELROND
SERIOUS INQUIRIES ONLY
“I bet the ‘dignitary’ is that Lord Erestor again,” Glorfindel heard one soldier say to another.
“You went on one of these once,” replied the other.
The first shuddered and grumbled. “Never again, and you can quote me. Never again.”
“But it pays well, right?”
“Not well enough,” warned the first soldier, and the pair moved out of the way, making room enough for Glorfindel to move closer to the board. He watched them go for a moment, and then turned and pretended to be reading the advertisements surrounding the key item while he listened to everyone around him conversing.
“It is tempting – my sister lives in Greenwood. Then again, to have to put up with Lord Erestor...”
“How can you be sure he is the one who needs the escort? Maybe there is someone else.”
“If it was someone else, Lord Elrond would have had that mentioned. He only masks it when it is Lord Erestor, in hopes someone will miss that detail.”
“If someone takes Lord Erestor to Greenwood, does that mean they need to bring him back?”
As the crowd laughed and jested further, Glorfindel reread the announcement. When he had returned to the realm of the living, his goal had been to protect Elrond, and later Elrond’s family. He was serious about this charge, and had followed Elrond everywhere. This also meant that Glorfindel had little time to devote to soldiering, and was content in his place as a tracker. He would leave briefly to assist hunting parties, but often returned by dusk. Vacations and journeys only happened when Elrond was part of the party.
It seemed now, with the prospect of true peace in Middle-earth, that Glorfindel should be free to roam a little more. He had never seen Greenwood, and only met King Thranduil on the battlefield at the end of the war against Sauron. Best of all, if Erestor really was the one who needed protection, it was sure to be a long trip during which Glorfindel would have lots of time to ask questions.
His thoughts were interrupted when he heard another soldier say, “If Greenwood kept Lord Erestor, then they would have to stop calling it Greenwood and start calling it Mirkwood!”
Glorfindel frowned, finding the conversation especially cruel. Breakfast could wait, but then, Elrond was probably still sleeping. Out of the corner of his eye, Glorfindel caught sight of a dark form coming around the stairway. Lord Erestor’s black robes swept the floor and his graceful movements made it look as if he glided down the hall instead of walking. The insults were sure to start up again, with the soldiers now whispering and readying their next barrage for when Erestor was close enough to hear.
Without further hesitation, Glorfindel leaned past the others and tore the announcement down, leaving the paper from either side still attached to the board. He rolled up the part he had snagged, tucked it into his vest before anyone could question him, and stepped out of the midst of the crowd. He stood in front of Erestor four easy strides later. “Good morning, Lord Erestor,” said Glorfindel cheerfully.
Erestor, slightly startled by the greeting, only nodded cautiously. He had seen Glorfindel standing among the usual troublemakers and waited to see what they had put him up to saying.
“If you are going to the dining hall, I thought perhaps we might break our fast together.” Glorfindel adopted a warm smile and focused solely on Erestor, completely ignoring the buzzing whispers behind him.
For a moment, it seemed Erestor was considering. He glanced around at the pesky young soldiers and shook his head. “No, thank you, I would prefer to eat alone.”
“Oh. Well, I was…” Glorfindel lowered his voice. “I was hoping we could talk about last night. I cannot apologize enough for what I did.”
“Because you would never have kissed someone like me if you were sober?” shot Erestor. He, too, kept his voice low to keep others from overhearing them.
“Because I really feel terrible for disturbing you like that. You were in bed and probably half asleep.” Glorfindel leaned forward slightly, and said very carefully in his lightest whisper, “If I did not fear you might slap me, I would not mind kissing you again sometime.”
“Oh really.” Erestor hardly seemed convinced. He noted that the crowd at the board had quieted down considerably and strained to hear their conversation. “Well… then I accept your apology,” he said, feeling a hunger pang as the delightful scents wafted from the dining hall.
“And breakfast?” asked Glorfindel hopefully.
“I think not,” answered Erestor as he began to turn around.
Glorfindel immediately fell in step, and when they were inside the hall where the noise could easily drown their voices, he spoke close to Erestor’s ear and said, “I think if two people kiss each other, they should at least know a little bit about each other, like where they come from and their favorite color and things like that, and normally I would suggest it happen the other way around, know the person and then kiss them, but in this case it will need to be done in the reverse.”
Erestor half expected Glorfindel to pass out when he did not take a breath. When he finally did stop, Erestor replied, “You came from Gondolin and your favorite color is gold.”
“No, I came from Cuivienen, and my favorite color is blue.”
“Oh.” And for the first time, Lord Erestor appeared to be interested in Lord Glorfindel.
Glorfindel smiled. He rarely shared such information with others, and he realized just then that information was Erestor’s weakness. “Would you like to know more?” Erestor nodded, and Glorfindel motioned to an empty table with two chairs at it.
